"Who is your favorite artist?"

3 Comments

In America, an artist can also be a musical performer, and a painting artist can just be called a painter. How do Ukrainians understand the title of artist?

November 7, 2016

[deactivated user]

There are actually several words:

Мите́ць — 'artist' in a broad, philosophical sense, anyone who is related to art. This word is not often used in everyday speech, because it's too broad. It can refer to anyone from actors to writers, from painters to sculptors. In everyday speech, we would normally be more precise about the person's trade.

Худо́жник (feminine худо́жниця) — in narrow sense, refers to painters. But sometimes it can be used as a synonym for мите́ць.

Арти́ст — someone who works on the stage. This word is still too broad, so it's not often used in everyday speech.

Instead of those broad words, we would be more specific and use words like:

акто́р 'actor', акто́рка 'actress' / актри́са 'actress',

співа́к 'singer', співа́чка 'female singer',

музика́нт 'musician', музи́ка 'musician' (slightly old-fashioned word, works for musicians on a wedding but rarely used for musicians on TV), музика́нтка 'female musician',